


Outsourcing Destiny

by parallelmonsoon



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Character Death, Hurt/Comfort, Incomplete soulmate marks, M/M, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:22:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22709191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parallelmonsoon/pseuds/parallelmonsoon
Summary: Fate is never guaranteed and every prophecy has its riddle.  It's Virgil's job to put the puzzle pieces together and bring soulmates together.  He's very, very good at it.  One of the best. It brings him some comfort, knowing he's helping other people find what he lost.His next case, though?  It's shaping up to be one hell of a challenge.(AKA. Exploring the idea of soulmate markings and bonds being less then helpful in locating each other.  It turns out fate is a tease.)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 31





	Outsourcing Destiny

It goes like this.

A princess. A prince. A prophecy.

Dragons and swords and battles bloody. Castles and kisses and witches three. Variations on a theme, but the message remains the same. In the fairy tales of old fate is no guarantee. They call it a hero's journey for good reason.

Pick up your sword. Mount your noble steed. Armor up and ride out. No prince ever found their princess by sitting idle on their throne.

Soulmates are destiny, but destiny is a twisty, selfish thing that hoards its secrets. Every prophecy has its riddle.Still, there are hints. Little gifts of a sort, tantalizing glimpses into someone else's world. A reminder that somewhere out there someone is waiting.

The connections vary and can change. Some will feel each other's emotions. Not the day-to-day frustrations and little comforts. Only the heady heights of overwhelming joy. The sluggish depths of despair. Love. Hate. It has to be strong, has to hit deep.

Others will share pain. Not papercuts or bruises...like emotion, it needs to be strong. It needs to be agony.

You might see through their eyes. So briefly, never more then a split-second glimpse. A flash of sunshine when you're curled up cozy in your bed, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it image of an unfamiliar room.

Or you might try writing on your skin. Never knowing if your other sees it or not, and knowing if they do it will be fragments at best. Half-letters, the sharp peak of an A, the loop of a g. Quick to fade, so quick you'll be lucky indeed if they see even those jumbled bits and pieces.

Most will have a soul mark. An unfinished thing, more shadow then substance. Just a few lines here, a hint of a shape there- it could be a feather, could be a leaf, who can say? It will fill in the closer you are, but so gradually, so slowly, that few will notice the change. Like watching grass grow or paint dry. You may notice one random day that it IS a leaf- it's so clear now, the veins delicate and branching, but when did it happen? When you were out of town for the week? When you tried that new coffee shop across town? Or was it your soulmate who moved- still halfway across the world, for all you know, but just a tiny bit closer then before.

It will be someone you'll meet...there's that much, at least. At some point they will have crossed your path, but that doesn't mean they stayed. Just passing through or just across town, that's the mystery. You won't feel it when you're face to face, or even if you touch them. You might rub shoulders on the street and that will be that, the soul mark blooming full and graying again without you ever noticing.

There are ways. Not easy, because these things never are. There are those who will break their own bones in hopes their soulmate might feel and somehow find their way home. Who felt a distant surge of terror and grief and trolled the obits to learn who died that day. Who fly back and forth across the country to chart the tiny changes in their soul mark. Who catch sight of a palm tree through their soul mate's eyes and narrow it down to somewhere tropical, at least. Florida? It's worth a shot, anyway.

It used to be that very few people ever found their soul mate. Most would die with only the not-quite-there reminder on their skin of what could have been. A missed opportunity, if only they had devoted themselves more fully to finding it. But life is messy, and there's never enough time for all of it. Do you give up your dream job to go searching? Ignore the handsome man in front of you now for someone-maybe-later? There are degrees to earn, children to raise, and yes, other loves to love. Lesser or not- a subject of much debate. 

It used to be that very few people ever found their soul mate...but it's a modern world now, with modern solutions.

That hero's journey? It turns out it doesn't have to be the prince who takes it. Destiny can be outsourced.

And that's where Virgil comes in.


End file.
